Strategic Partnership with Whole Foods Puts More Local Food on Shelves

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The rising numbers of farmers markets and community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs is helping to both feed and fuel the demand for locally and regionally produced food. But can you find local food on your grocery store shelves?

The answer to that question is increasingly “yes” … and FamilyFarmed.org is playing an important role in making that happen.

For example, the organization is working with Whole Foods Market to help the natural foods supermarkets identify more Illinois farmers who can produce fruits and vegetables to be sold in the company’s Midwest stores. Details about their product priorities are below, and for more information, please contact FamilyFarmed.org at James@FamilyFarmed.org.

FamilyFarmed.org works in a strategic partnership with Whole Foods Market, the nation’s largest chain of natural food supermarkets, including this outlet in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Photo by Bob Benenson

The partnership aims to grow the supply of regionally produced sustainable and organic food. To that end, FamilyFarmed.org has been working to expand procurement relationships between Whole Foods Market and Midwestern producers such as Deer Creek Organics in St. Anne, Illinois; FarmedHere in Bedford Park, Illinois; Living Waters Farms in Strawn, Illinois; and Klug Orchards in Berrien Center, Michigan.

FamilyFarmed.org, in fact, has been connecting local farms and food businesses to buyers for more than 10 years. That procurement work with retail grocers, restaurants, schools, and other institutions is highlighted at the Good Food Festival & Conference, held each March in Chicago.

That work continues year-round: identifying new local farms, helping existing farms expand to new markets, training local farmers to be responsive to wholesale buyers’ needs, and connecting new suppliers with wholesale buyers.

To move that ball up the field, FamilyFarmed.org recently visited the Whole Foods Market distribution center in Munster, Indiana, about 30 miles from downtown Chicago. The conversation there produced the alphabetical list below of fruits and vegetables that were identified as priorities. And we are contacting Illinois farms and farm groups to alert them to this opportunity for expanded sales.

• Asparagus

• Beans (Purple, Pole, Yellow, Wax)

• Beets (bunched Gold and Choigga)

• All Berries (except blueberries)

• Baby Bok Choy

• Bok Choy

• Brussels Sprouts (conventional and organic)

• Cabbage (Green, Red, and Savoy)

• Carrots (bunched)

• Celery (24 count)

• Cherries (sweet and tart)

• Fennel (conventional and organic)

• Garlic (organic)

• Green Onions

• Herbs (bunching, organic)

• Onions (White, Jumbo, conventional and organic)

• Onions (Yellow, organic)

• Peas (Snap and Snow)

• Red Radishes

• Shallots (organic, 20 lb. loose)

• Spinach (bunched, conventional)

• Stone Fruits

• Tomato (Slicing, conventional)

The strategic partnership also includes Whole Foods’ participation in the Good Food Business Accelerator that FamilyFarmed.org is launching this fall, which will provide instruction, mentorship, and financial networking to entrepreneurs selected as program Fellows. You can read more about the Accelerator project on FamilyFarmed.org’s Good Food on Every Table website by clicking here.

Ten Delicious Facts About Chicago Good Food

Family Farmed is proud of the blossoming Good Food movement in our hometown of Chicago, so we put together a list of 10 Delicious Facts about Good Food in the Windy City (click on the photo to read the article). We want our readers to know what's happening in your hometown, too! If you would like to contribute a column about your Good Food scene, please contact bob@familyfarmed.org

Good Food n. /güd/ /füd/

1. Delicious, healthy food, accessible to all, produced as close to home as possible by family farmers and producers who use sustainable, humane, and fair practices. 2. A fast-growing movement creating vast numbers of jobs and economic development by providing people with food that matches their values.